According to an article in the Star-Telegram, the Labor Department released revised unemployment figures stating that 626,000 newly unemployed workers are seeking unemployment insurance benefits. That figure is up from the previous report of 591,000 unemployed workers seeking unemployment insurance benefits.
The new workers who have experienced job losses brings the total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits to 6.5 million if you include the 1.7 million jobless workers who are already receiving unemployment insurance benefits under the extension granted by Congress last year. This is the largest number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits since records began in 1967. And these are just those Americans who qualify for unemployment insurance.
What about those workers experiencing job losses who don’t qualify for unemployment insurance? What will happen to them? Well, for one thing they aren’t being counted so therefore they aren’t being seen by the public. The number of job losses is astronomical to say the least and we aren’t seeing all of the layoffs in the news.
Many of those workers who experienced job losses will face foreclosure , wage garnishments and other financial catastrophes. In many municipalities the time it takes to get unemployment insurance benefits is taking longer and longer and after a lengthy process, many workers are discovering that they don’t qualify for the program.
Workers facing a job loss need to look at all their options, including bankruptcy to cushion the blow of lost income because unemployment insurance benefits are not always guaranteed. If you’ve been laid off contact a bankruptcy attorney to find out how you may be able to discharge your debt in Chapter 7 bankruptcy .